European success the real possibility

Once again Arsenal face the same problems as last season. The Premiership title is unlikely as the midfield doesn't have the perfect balance and Arsene doesn't know his strongest XI.

The Gilberto - Fabregas balance in midfield is not quite right for a 4-4-2 as Fabregas is not good enough at the moment when we don't have the ball. He will improve in time and will one day get a better partner than Gilberto, can Julio Baptista be that player? The Gilberto, Fabregas, Rosicky and Hleb partnership is no where near as balanced as the Vieira, Petit, Parlour and Overmars of 1998. Vieira and Petit were both strong and could defend, they were a left foot / right foot combination, Parlour was an excellent pro and could tuck in and Overmars was naturally left sided, had extreme pace and could make a chance out of nothing.

Because of this inbalance, away from home in the league against the better teams we have struggled. We lost tamely to Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool last season.

Another problem is that Henry is not efficient with a partner unless he is playing with a deeper lying second striker aka Dennis Bergkamp.
Rosicky could play this role but Ljungberg would need to start scoring again or Walcott would have to step up a level. Van Persie is obviously a very gifted player but as a very individual style player the question is; can he form a fruitful partnership with Henry?

With the personnel Arsene has at the moment, our best formation is a 4-5-1.

However Arsene will never play a 4-5-1 in the Premiership with another option as it goes against his principles of attacking football. 0-0 away from home in the Premiership is not a good result for Arsenal.

In the Champions League first leg it is a crucial result.

It means teams have to attack us at home and so we can play the 4-5-1 and turn it into a 4-3-3 on the counter attack.

Away from home in Europe a central midfield trio of Fabregas, Gilberto and Ljungberg or more likely Rosicky would be highly effective. This latter trio would allow Ljungberg and Hleb to play wide and Baptista and Walcott to come one and add an injection of pace and power. Henry would play up on his own and feed off through balls from Rosicky and Fabregas.

Gilberto is a much better player in Europe because he can concentrate on one task, being a midfield anchor. In the Premiership the lack of natural wide players means he has to do more and make forward runs to support the attack. In Europe he has 3 other midfielders to do that and can concentrate on helping the defence out.

It was no coincidence that when he was asked to play this more defensive role his performances improved considerably and as a result we kept 10 consecutive clean sheets. The addition of Gallas will also add strength to the defensive unit and so once again it will be a European campaign based on not conceding away from home.

It also means Fabregas gets a little bit more freedom and less responsibility defensively which he relishes. In Europe football is played thr ight way as the ball is played on the floor which suits Fabregas perfectly, whereas certain Premiership teams have a different philosophy known as aggression, a direct style, as simply they aren't good enough to play the ball on the floor. This is where Fabregas' defensive shortcomings are apparent, he is not physical enough and cannot impose his game in this situation.

Until Arsene can achieve an effective 4-4-2 which he cannot do without another natural wide player, preferably with pace (possibly Walcott) and an improvement in Fabregas defensively, success in Europe is a more fruitful option again this season.